


Kintsukuroi

by T Verano (t_verano)



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Community: sentinel_thurs, M/M, Sentinel Thursday, Written for prompt "heal" or healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19128949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_verano/pseuds/T%20Verano
Summary: Blair buys something for the loft. Symbolism comes along for the ride.





	Kintsukuroi

**Author's Note:**

> written for Sentinel Thursday challenge 629 "heal"

_The bowl sits on their dresser. Jim sees it half a dozen times a day. Notices it -- really notices it -- far less often than that._

_But it's always there. Ready to remind him._

_Just in case he ever needs reminding._

==============

"Chief, you hit up the bargain bin at Pottery Barn or something?" Jim asked, staring at the new addition to the top of their dresser.

It was a reasonable question. The bowl had been a nice enough piece of pottery once: shallow, pleasingly shaped, the forest green glaze holding depths that Jim could easily let himself get lost in. But it was broken.

He raised an eyebrow. "You bought a broken bowl."

" _Mended,_ Jim," Blair said. He looked pleased with himself, as if the broken -- _mended_ \-- bowl meant something more to him than the imminent dumpster fodder it looked like to Jim. 

Jim narrowed his eyes. Looked at Blair's expression; looked at the bowl again. 

Scratched his jaw. There were irregular metallic seams running through it, as if it'd been dropped, then pieced back together by someone who wanted the repairs to be as visible as possible. As _shiny_ as possible: the thick seams were silvery, gleaming in the slant of sunlight through the windows. 

"It's Kintsukuroi," Blair said, helpfully. "Also known as Kinsugi."

Jim sighed. "I don't want to know why you think I would want to know what you just said, do I?" he asked, with a certain -- and familiar -- amount of resignation. 

"Nope," Blair answered cheerfully. "You'd just get cranky. There's symbolism involved."

"Of course there is." Jim lifted his gaze from the bowl and studied Blair's face for a moment. It was open and alight with enthusiasm, the way it used to be back when they first met.

The way it often was again now. Now that they'd made it this far, together, in spite of everything. 

Jim didn't even try not to smile. Which didn't keep him from attempting to dodge the bullet. "Why don't we just spare me the symbolism," he suggested. "Something tells me I can live without it."

Blair gave Jim's arm a backhanded thwack. "Look at the bowl, Jim," he said. "What do you see? And I don't mean zooming in or anything. For once." His grin widened. 

Jim rolled his eyes before dropping his gaze back down to the bowl, as commanded. "I see a bowl," he said pointedly. 

The exasperation on Blair's face made Jim smirk. He raised one hand in surrender and added, "A bowl that's been broken and put back together, Sherlock. With what looks like silver. To play up the fact that it's been broken, I assume."

"Broken and _mended._ Kintsukuroi's a Japanese method of repairing broken pottery that uses the breaks deliberately to create something stronger and more beautiful." Blair touched one of the shining seams with a gentle finger. "Yeah, this is silver. They use gold, too." His hand moved to cradle the bowl. "It's a celebration of the healing process, actually; honoring the scars and turning them into something filled with light." There was a note in Blair's voice that sounded almost like reverence.

_Stronger and more beautiful; they got that part right,_ Jim thought, watching him. That was Blair, picking up the broken mess Jim had made of everything and gluing it back together, gluing _them_ back together, in new ways. Better ways.

Blair's hand was still wrapped around the bowl. If the goddamned politicians ever got their heads out of their asses Jim was going to put a ring on that hand.

Another symbol. 

Maybe symbolism wasn't so bad, after all.


End file.
